Solidarity Activities

At the beginning of February the Swedish site of Hands off Venezuela, www.handsoffvenezuela.se, was launched. The aim is to answer the silence and the lies about Venezuela in the Swedish media, and to raise solidarity for the Venezuelan revolution within the labour movement and amongst the youth.

On Friday, February 17, over 30 people braved the -10 below zero weather to attend the Minneapolis Premiere of "The Old Man and Jesus: Prophets of Rebellion". The passion and revolutionary fervor of the most downtrodden members of society should give us all hope that another world is indeed possible.

Hands Off Venezuela has been launched in Texas! All it takes is a handful of people to start a local HOV group. It all begins with a few film showings, discussions, and an ever-broadening local and national network of people and organizations committed to opposing U.S. intervention, spreading awareness, and building solidarity between Venezuelan and U.S. working people. Join HOV today and set up a local group in your town!

Yesterday Hands Off Venezuela and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign were outside the Venezuelan embassy expressing solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution against Blair’s recent attack in parliament.

After the scandalous attack by Tony Blair last week on the Venezuelan government and Hugo Chavez in particular, an Early Day Motion, number 1644, on "Developments in Venezuela" has been put down and so far signed by 72 MPs. The motion recognises the achievements of Venezuela in the recent period and calls on the British Parliament to support Chavez.

Luis Primo, a member of the Venezuelan National Union of Workers (UNT) will be in the U.S. to speak between March 18 and 25. U.S. Hands Off Venezuela is launching a fundraising appeal to cover the expenses we will incur.

In light of the recent attacks on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Hand Off Venezuela campaign has issued a protest letter addressed to Tony Blair. We urge all our readers to add their signatures.

On February 4th, the US Hands off Venezuela Campaign was invited to set up an table at the annual convention for the Rhode Island charity and political advocacy group Campaign to Eliminate Childhood Poverty (CECP). Many of the attendees of the event took a keen interest in the HOV table.

Alan Woods recently spoke in the headquarters of the Parisian Federation of the French Communist Party at a Hands Off Venezuela meeting organised by La Riposte and the campaign Pas touche au Venezuela!. Also speaking was Maria Antonieta Borjas, of the Venezuelan Embassy and Esteban Volkov, the grandson of Leon Trotsky, who was warmly applauded by the meeting.

As part of the Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas Friday movie night, John Peterson, National Secretary of the U.S. Hands Off Venezuela Campaign introduced the film and led a discussion afterwards. The film, which covers a broad period of Venezuelan history, focusing on the years since the “Caracazo” of 1989, was very well received and sparked a lively discussion.

On Friday, January 27, around 80 people attended a Venezuela solidarity event at the University of Minnesota's Blegen Hall, sponsored by the Minnesota Venezuela Committee and the U of M. Jesus "Chucho" Garcia, an Afro-Venezuelan activist and author, discussed CITGO's discounted fuel program and its impact on poor communities in the United States.

San Francisco HOV organized a lecture and film showing on Friday, January 27, in San Francisco in which approximately 30 people attended. The film conveyed a clear sense of the rising awareness of their own power that ordinary people in Venezuela are experiencing.